Our Lord has not chosen this day to return.

I had the good fortune of spending a few hours with Fr. Rob and Bishop Craig on Monday afternoon. I must say that anytime I get a chance to discuss matters of faith with them, it is indeed a blessing, but this last Monday was even more so as it got me to thinking about how I live my life and ultimately how we should all live our lives.

During discussion of the Timothean rite, Bishop Craig made mention of re-introducing an ancient custom where the deacon, at the direction of the celebrant would leave the building, and upon returning the celebrant would ask “Has the Lord returned”? The deacon would then reply “Our Lord has not chosen this day to return”, then the catechumens would be dismissed and the liturgy of the Eucharist would begin. I at first, in my haste, balked at this idea, as I am pretty sure that when the trumpet blasts with our Lord’s coming, that we would know about it, but then it was explained to me, that one of the main tenets of our faith is that the Lord will indeed return, and that it should be stressed in our liturgy. After meditating on this since that conversation I have realized that I do indeed agree with that. So much so, that not only should be stressing that he will return (maybe even in the embolism of the Lord’s prayer) but also we should be stressing that we must be prepared for when he does return.

I have no doubt that the return of our Lord will catch us off guard. We will be surprised by it, and not expecting it. Scripture tells us that this will be so.

2 Peter 3:10 (ESV) “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

Also in Matthew 24:37-41 (ESV) “As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 (ESV) “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.”

So, we have been warned, that no matter what we will be caught by surprise when our Lord decides to return.

We are taught that the people should always do that which is pleasing to God, out of Love for Him. For many this is enough motivation for them to strive for holiness in all they do, but there is a segment of our population who unfortunately has a skewed sense of what it means to love a person let alone God. So how do we reach them? We must appeal to a more innate human sense, and that is fear of being caught. Even Adam and Eve hid themselves, but we now know we cannot hide from God. He knows all, He sees all, but somewhere deep down inside, humans just don’t get it. So we must add to the motivation as to why we must strive for holiness. Not only must we do so out of the Love of God, but we also don’t want to be caught doing something offensive to God at the moment our Lord returns.

Think of the activity you are doing when our Lord returns being recorded next to your name in a book. Would you rather have “was plowing the field” next to your name, or “fornicating with the next door neighbor”?

Every activity we do must be with the thought of would this be something I would want My Lord to see me doing if he came right now? We don’t want to be caught with our pants down, no pun intended. We must weigh our activities carefully with the question “If the Lord saw me doing this when he returned, would I be ashamed?” Even everyday activities that we do without thinking take on a whole new meaning. “Would I want the Lord to catch me in a movie theatre, thereby supporting Hollywood?” “Would I want the Lord to catch me with a buzz after having one too many beers?” “Would I want the Lord to catch me sitting in my underwear watching TV?” The list could go on and on and it should go on and on. If we weigh our activities in this way, we will find ourselves moving closer to holiness in spite of any lack of understanding of how to love God and in the end, as we grow in holiness, we will learn how to love God, and we will find ourselves doing things out of love for Him after all.

So this means we are to WATCH for the return of our Lord, and like the boy scouts, be PREPARED for the return of our Lord. That being prepared is to be sure that whatever activity we engage in will be something that is glorifying to God.

Deacon Greg Elsbernd, SST